


I've Got You

by starryeyedchar



Series: Voltron Whump Week [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fever, How Do I Tag, M/M, Sickfic, Whump, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 21:49:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11792157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryeyedchar/pseuds/starryeyedchar
Summary: It's VLD Whump Week! This is for Day One- Fever.Lance and Keith are captured by Lotor on a mission gone south, and it's only after they're in a cell that Keith realizes Lance is sick.





	I've Got You

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna try and throw some (k)lance whump out each day, so stay tuned for more angsty one-shots.

Lance glared up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes, as if its very presence offended him. “Why do we even _make_ plans?” he wondered aloud. “They always go south, anyways.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “If we just stormed into Galra bases with no idea what we were doing, then we'd be caught pretty easily.”

Lance eyed him, unimpressed. His skin looked unusually pale in the dim, purple light. “Kinda like how we are now?”

Keith shot him a glare in return. “We should be thinking about how to get out of here,” he pushed himself to his feet, pressing his hands to the wall.

“We wouldn't even _be_ here if it weren't for you and your stupid recklessness,” Lance muttered under his breath. Keith whirled around.

“And what's _that_ supposed to mean?” he demanded.

“You never listen to me!” Lance said. “My plan would've worked, but _you_ had to just rush ahead, like you always do. And now we're both stuck in here!”

“Well, my plan was going great until _you_ messed it up,” Keith pointed out. “You kept missing shots, and that's why we were overwhelmed!”

“Oh, I'm sorry that I'm not absolutely _perfect_ , like you obviously are,” Lance fired back. “Maybe you guys should just—” Lance interrupted himself with a cough. “Just kick me off of the—” he broke into a fit of coughing, burying his face in his elbow.

When he finally caught his breath, Lance looked up to meet Keith's bewildered gaze. “Are you sick?”

“Uh... no?”

Keith crouched down to Lance's level, eying him skeptically. “You sound sick. And now that I think of it, you kind of _look_ it, too. Were you that pale earlier?”

“I'm not—” Lance tried to say, but Keith had already pressed a hand to his forehead.

The red paladin drew back almost immediately. “You're really burning up,” he bit his lip. “How do you feel? Be honest with me.”

“Headache?” Lance smiled sheepishly. “Well, more like a migraine. Kinda exhausted, just in general? And, um, my sinuses are pretty stuffed up.”

Keith cursed. “That would've been useful information to have this morning! You know, _before_ we got stuck in this cell?”

“Well, I tried!” Lance threw his hands up in exasperation. “But you guys didn't want to hear it! 'This mission is very important, Lance', 'We've been planning this for weeks, Lance', 'Suck it up, we're all exhausted!' Any of those ring a bell?!”

Keith flinched, now vaguely recalling how Lance had stumbled into the dining hall in his pajamas earlier, claiming that he wasn't feeling well. “How were we supposed to know it was this bad?” he countered angrily. “You're always complaining! You should've tried harder to tell us than just saying 'I don't feel so well!' What kind of bullshit understatement is that?!”

“Well, _excuse me_ if I didn't want to disappoint you guys again!” Lance exclaimed, before his angry expression dropped into one of exhaustion. “I guess I did that anyway, though...”

_Again_?

“And... it wasn't as bad this morning,” he continued to argue weakly. “But getting knocked out and deprived of water and food for who knows how long we've been in here probably hasn't _helped_ my situation.”

He broke into another set of wet coughs, and Keith winced. “This is bad.” Keith was honestly a bit angry at himself for not noticing earlier. Just the mediocre aim alone should've been telling. Normally, Lance could be counted on to never miss a shot.

_Shiro probably would've noticed_. The thought hurt more than he liked to admit.

“Nice observation,” Lance grumbled sarcastically. “What could've possibly given you that idea?”

“Lance, this is serious,” Keith insisted. “We've got to get you out of here. Things weren't looking good before, but if you're sick then we _really_ need to escape, or you'll get worse.”

“Keith, relax,” Lance said, sounding way too calm for Keith's liking. “The others will be here soon to break us out. We've just got to wait.”

“The longer we spend in here, the worse you'll get,” Keith had begun to pace around the cell. “And who knows what the Galra will do to us in here!”

The door to their cell was opening before Lance could reply. For a wonderful moment, he thought the person standing before them was the princess, but he soon realized the long white hair was considerably less curly. The figure stepped forward, standing at about a head taller than Lance with eyes glowing a Galra yellow behind the irises, and smooth purple skin. He held a sword, which he lowered to point deliberately at Lance's throat. “What, indeed?”

He shuddered involuntarily.

“ _Lotor_ ,” Keith growled. “What do you want with us?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Lotor swept his free hand across the cell. “Killing off two Voltron paladins would considerably boost the odds of my father's empire.”

Keith's blood ran cold. He chanced a look back at the blue paladin to see Lance staring at the Prince with wide eyes.

“Kidding,” Lotor chuckled. “But you should see the looks on your faces! No, what I want from you is information. Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement?”

“We're never telling you anything,” Lance said, furious. “So you can go quiznak yourself.”

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith warned, voice strained. The sword was still only inches away from Lance's face.

Lotor's eyes gleamed. “Interesting. One would expect such fire from the pilot of the red lion,” he eyed Keith with distaste. _He doesn't know about the lion switch_ , Lance realized. _He's basing his analysis off of our armor_. “Then again, the last blue paladin had it, too. He never knew when to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps this could prove useful.”

“Hey, genius, I just told you,” Lance bit out, ignoring Keith's obvious disapproval. “We're not helping you with anything. Fuck off.”

“Hmm,” Lotor mused, tapping a long finger to his chin. “We'll see if you can keep that attitude intact for the rest of your stay.”

Keith edged himself in between the Galra and Lance. Lotor drew the sword up so it was directed toward Keith instead. “What're you gonna do, then? Torture us like you did to Shiro?”

Lotor just glared at them, clearly unimpressed. “Yes, your black paladin was renowned in the Gladiator ring, wasn't he? I've had several victories there myself, though I managed to keep all my limbs.” Keith's vision went red. “As clever as Haggar thinks she is, I wish to make allies out of you. Hopefully you realize that all of the Universe being under my control will bring the peace your Princess so desperately wants.”

“You're not bringing peace! You're eliminating their choices! Their freedom!” Lance protested, struggling to stand up.

Lotor sighed, turning to leave. “We'll see if you still feel that way after a day or two in here.”

“We're not telling you anything,” Keith spat.

“Are you sure about that?” Lotor smiled at them over his shoulder. “Did you really think we'd keep you in here and not monitor you? Your friend is clearly ill, and while I don't know much about you... _humans_ yet, with a temperature that high? He won't last long without treatment, let alone food or water. I hope you'll make the smart decision, and reconsider.”

Lance shivered again, rubbing his hands over the goosebumps on his arms. “I'll be... I'll be fine. There's nothing I can't... can't h-handle.”

Keith shook his head, eyes dark and angry. “I'm going to get you out of here.”

* * *

Keith grunted, hacking repeatedly at the cell walls with his bayard. Since they were still in paladin armor, they had their weapons, but they did little good against the smooth metal walls of the prison. And there were no scanners or keypads on the inside.

“I could try and shoot Lotor when he comes in next,” Lance offered weakly.

“We both know you're in no condition to make an accurate shot right now, Lance. Besides, he'll probably have his own weapon, like he did last time,” Keith pointed out, still furiously stabbing at the walls.

Lance's vision was, admittedly, losing focus with each passing second. “Keith, stop it. That's not going to do anything, either, and the noise is slowly driving me insane. We just have to wait for the others to come get us.”

“I'm not going to just sit there hopelessly! We've got to do _something_! It could be days before the others get us out, and we might not have that long! They don't even know that you're sick, so they won't be rushing!”

“I'd like to think they'll get us out as soon as they can, regardless of the fact that I might be feeling a _little_ under the weather.”

“Yeah, right, a little,” Keith crossed his arms. “Pretty sure that back on Earth we'd be taking you to a hospital right about now. I don't have a thermometer, but that fever is way too high.”

Lance tried not to wince at the mention of their home planet. “We may not have thermometers, but we have magical healing pods. I'll be fine as soon as we get back to the castle. We just need to be patient.”

Keith's mouth quirked into something like a smile. “Patience yields focus.”

Lance grinned. “There's the fearless leader we all know and love.” He drew his knees up to his chest, breathing out a small sigh. “I wish it weren't so cold in here, though. The guy won't give us food, water, or medicine, sure. But turning down the thermostat? That's a new low. I'm from Cuba, for crying out loud. Anything below seventy degrees and I start to feel like a popsicle.”

Keith's half-smile disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. “Lance... it's not cold. Actually, it's kind of warm in here I... I thought you... but you're sweating...?” Keith reached a hand to touch Lance's forehead, and promptly swore. “How long have we _been_ in here?! It's only been... what? A few more hours, and you're getting worse, again! Why didn't you tell me you were feeling worse?”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Because I knew you'd freak out, and there's not much we can do about it right now, is there?”

“ _I'm not freaking out_!”

Lance opened his mouth for a witty response, but closed it again as the room began to spin around him. Black spots danced on the edges of his sight, and the last thing he saw before the floor was rushing up to meet him was Keith scrambling towards him.

* * *

“Lance? _Lance_?!” Keith shook him slightly, but the blue paladin's eyes remained shut. The only sign that he was even alive was his slow, congested breathing. “No, no, _come on_ , don't do this to me, Lance.”

He didn't budge.

Keith felt panic beginning to flood his veins. He still had no idea when the others would be able to get to them, and at this rate... at this rate...

_Lance could die_.

The realization was a shock to Keith's system. Lance could actually die. Not while fighting a courageous battle, not while saving those in danger, but because he was sick, and Keith couldn't get him help in time.

_No_. Lance wasn't going to go out like this, not if Keith could help it. He knew that Lance would never want him to do it, but he didn't care. If it meant Lance would live, then that's what was most important.

“FINE!” he shouted. “I'll tell you whatever you want, just help him! Save Lance, and I'll tell you everything you want to know!”

There was no response. If Keith hadn't been so focused on the blue paladin's breathing, he might've heard the boom that shook the ship.

“Lotor, do you hear me!?” Keith called again, voice rising. “I'll do it, just—”

The door burst open, and this time it was Allura, in her pink paladin armor. She held the detached arm of a sentry in her hand, and she visibly tensed as her eyes took in the scene. “Get him to the red lion,” she said firmly, but Keith didn't miss the worry in her eyes. “It led us here, it's on the ship. You can fly it back to the castle, but you must hurry. Coran's already prepped a pod. Hunk, Pidge, and I will deal with the soldiers.”

Keith nodded, already lifting Lance into his arms and rushing down the hall at a sprint. He could still sense his bond to the red lion faintly, and he silently asked her to let him in. _Please. I know he's your paladin now, but I need to save him. Help me save him._

He heard the red lion roar, and looked down at Lance to see his eyes fluttering open. “See, what'd I... what'd I tell you?” he said softly, a smile overtaking his features. “Just had to... be patient.”

“You were right,” Keith told him, ignoring the sting of his eyes. “You're going to be just fine. I've got you.”

 


End file.
